Sunday, August 3, 2014

Afterworlds

Afterworld by Scott Westerfeld

Disclaimer: I read the advanced reader's copy (ARC) of this book; this book will be released on September 23, 2014. Undoubtedly, there will be minor changes between the version I read and the published version. I picked up the ARC at the 2014 ALA Conference.

Scot Westerfeld is another one of my favorite authors. I loved the Uglies as well as So Yesterday, Peeps, Midnighters, and so much more. He's a writing machine.

An amazon summary, "From the #1 New York Times bestselling author Scott Westerfeld comes a smart, thought-provoking novel-within-a-novel that you won’t be able to put down.Darcy Patel has put college on hold to publish her teen novel, Afterworlds. With a contract in hand, she arrives in New York City with no apartment, no friends, and all the wrong clothes. But lucky for Darcy, she’s taken under the wings of other seasoned and fledgling writers who help her navigate the city and the world of writing and publishing. Over the course of a year, Darcy finishes her book, faces critique, and falls in love.Woven into Darcy’s personal story is her novel, Afterworlds, a suspenseful thriller about a teen who slips into the “Afterworld” to survive a terrorist attack. The Afterworld is a place between the living and the dead, and where many unsolved—and terrifying—stories need to be reconciled. Like Darcy, Lizzie too falls in love…until a new threat resurfaces, and her special gifts may not be enough to protect those she cares about most." AMAZON LINK OF JUSTICEThis is two stories contained within one book.
The first story is about the author, Darcy, who writes the second story about Lizzie.

The author Darcy is struggling with crucial life choices of whether or not to pursue a college career yet or pursue her writing career. She's submitted her book Afterworlds and has been signed to complete Afterworlds and to also write a sequel for it.

Lizzie is boarding a plane after visiting her father when a terrorist attacks hits her airport. She makes a desperate phone call to 911 where the operator tells her to play dead. So she does, almost too well.

The stories are a wonderful contrast between realistic fiction and magical realism where they are many parallel themes between the two worlds. As Darcy comes across a serious life choice, Lizzie faces the same life choice but in her more magical setting. It was fascinating to see the contrast between the two stories and to not always see the same outcomes.

This didn't feel like a usual Westerfeld book to me, but it was exciting rather than a negative thing. It was like discovering a whole other side to Westerfeld's writing and it was a bit fascinating.

I also loved how throughout the book Darcy would point out things that "sucked" about Afterworlds that might have otherwise gone unnoticed. It was just an overall fascinating read.

Like most books I adore, I find it hard to pinpoint things to talk about.

I did text a few of my other book friends and demanded they move Afterworlds up in their "To be read" stacks so we could discuss it.